Tulane Law School strives to create opportunities that enhance our students' practical skillsets in order to better prepare them for their jobs following law school. Through partnerships with local legal professionals, alumni, employers and law school faculty, Tulane Law works to supplement the classroom experience with programs such as Intersession "Boot Camp", externships, judicial clerkships and pro bono opportunities.

Tulane Law School offers a three-year, full-time program leading to the Juris Doctor (JD) degree. Students take 29 credits of required courses during the first year of the JD program. During the second and third years of the JD program, students take one 3-credit required course entitled Legal Profession, and design their own courses of study by selecting electives for the remaining 56 credit hours required for the degree. Tulane uses a semester schedule, and JD students must enroll as full-time students in six fall and spring semesters. Optional summer programs are offered in New Orleans and in six other locations throughout the world. In addition, students may enroll in a one-week January Intersession program before the start of the spring semester; the Intersession course offerings emphasize skills training.

Tulane also offers four different LLM programs, each requiring completion of 24 credits over the course of one academic year.

A program leading to the Doctor of Juridical Science (SJD) is offered to individuals who have completed an LLM program with an outstanding record.

LEARNING OBJECTIVE

Tulane Law School maintains a rigorous program of legal education designed to prepare students for admission to the bar and for effective, ethical, and responsible participation as members of the legal profession. Among other learning outcomes, our academic program seeks to ensure that our graduates achieve competency in:

Knowledge and understanding of substantive and procedural law. Tulane Law School’s program guides students in acquiring a foundation of knowledge in public and private law and the ability to identify legal issues and articulate legal theories based on a set of facts. In our first-year program, students learn to read, analyze and apply cases, statutes and other materials in contracts, torts, property, civil procedure, criminal law, and constitutional law. In our upper class curriculum, students expand their knowledge base and learn to synthesize legal principles across a variety of subject-matter areas. Students may elect to develop expertise in legal materials and methods in our areas of curricular strength, such as Admiralty & Maritime Law, Comparative & Civil Law, Environmental & Energy Law, International & Comparative Law, and Sports Law.

Legal analysis and reasoning, legal research, problem-solving, and written and oral communication in the legal context. Students learn how to formulate a research plan to resolve legal issues and to communicate their analysis to a legal audience. In our first-year Legal Research & Writing course, students learn traditional and state-of-the-art legal research techniques and acquire basic competence in drafting legal memoranda and briefs and in oral advocacy. Students learn to formulate an open-ended research plan and use legal analysis, reasoning, and persuasive argumentation to advance a more complex thesis in a major writing project, such as in a seminar, in connection with a journal, or through a faculty supervised research project. Students may elect to acquire additional experience in written and oral advocacy in our Moot Court program and clinical programs.

The exercise of proper professional and ethical responsibilities to clients and the legal system. Students learn how lawyers manage fundamental professional and ethical dilemmas in the practice of law. Students become aware of the general goals and responsibilities of the legal profession throughout the curriculum, beginning with the 1L orientation program. Students learn the rules of ethics and acquire an understanding of the roles of lawyers in our society and the nature and structure of the legal profession in our Legal Professioncourse. Students become aware of the needs of underserved individuals and the community at large by performing a minimum of fifty hours of pro bono service.

The professional skills needed for competent and ethical participation as a member of the legal profession. Student learn how to integrate doctrine, theory, analytic and practical skills, and legal ethics in the effective representation of a client. In our Intersession Boot Camp and our clinics, simulation courses, and externships, students learn techniques for gathering information and gain experience in assessing strategies and taking an appropriate course of action to advance a client’s interests. Students also learn, individually and collaboratively, how to organize and manage legal work and how to evaluate their performance on an ongoing basis.

Watch this short video to learn more about the curriculum and course offerings at Tulane Law School.